Life In Rosy Hues
by rj05
Summary: Alison is being tormented by her dreams about the time she spent in Prison. Set in future, a little ahead of times since 5x14. EMISON one shot.


_She can feel her throat closing up, bile rising up to her throat constricting it as panic floods her veins. She is blinded by bright white lights while howling sounds echo through the walls as wolf like people gawk at the fresh meat. She is shivering, not so much because of the cold but because she is scared shitless. She has watched it in the movies, read about it in books but never in all the 17 years of her life imagined herself to be here, here in prison being treated as a regular criminal walking the hallways with her arms locked in handcuffs making her arms and shoulders hurt. A Rosewood police officer walks behind her giving her a push onto her shoulder now & then to make her move quickly, and as much as she wants to move quick her legs are not quite in sync with her mind at the moment, she is dragging her legs to reach quickly to wherever the cop is taking her, to fled away from this scene where other prisoners are looking at her from their respective cells, some have their hands stretched out from behind the bars trying to touch her, some are calling her names._

_"__Hey Blondie, Welcome to the hell hole."_

_"__Hear O' Hear! Fresh meat has arrived, We feast tomorrow morning."_

_"__Mmmmm.. Looks yum.."_

_She feels beads of sweat rolling down her back, another push on her shoulder and she is shoved into a cell. She hits her foot on something hard and falls down on the floor, before she sees the police officer locking down the cell. She wasn't ever a claustrophobic person, but being buried alive by your own mother affects a person's phobia. Her throat is closing up, it feels like she won't be able to utter a single word ever again, the walls of the cell feel like they are closing down on her. For the first time ever she thinks that being on the run was better than this, she could run away to any place she liked, she always wanted to run away to Paris but for 2 years she never thought of even going beyond New York, couldn't leave her four friends behind in danger. She closes her eyes, hoping for all of this to be a nightmare and that when she will open her eyes again she will be back in her house, but nothing changes when she does open her eyes. She can't breathe now, the oxygen is coming in gasps, her heart is hammering in her chest._

* * *

><p>"Ali! Ali!"<p>

The said blonde next to her is shaking uncontrollably, her body completely drenched in sweat.

"Ali! Wake up!"

Emily tries to shake her but Ali moves out of the bed cowering away from the brunette's touch so quickly it gives Emily a whiplash. She sits on the floor with her back by the nearest wall to her bed, with her head buried in her knees, gasping for air.

This has been a frequent reoccurrence since the blonde finally got released from jail after being proved not guilty of Mona's murder, but it breaks Emily's heart every single time to watch Alison, one of the strongest people she knew, like this.

* * *

><p>It took more than a month and a half since Alison's arrest for the girls and herself to finally realise that Alison was never A- the psycho who wanted to ruin their lives and that in fact she was the one who was keeping them safe all this time. In all that time Ali was in prison Emily never went to visit her, all the girls except her had made a trip to the prison to see her and question her more about her motives, accuse her more of being A and ruining their lives, but one after the other returned with lesser words and more silence from Alison. When they did realise their mistake in pinning everything thats wrong in their world on Alison, it was Spencer and her who were the first ones to jump to that bandwagon. Their search for the person who was apparently helping Ali in torturing them lead them to Cyrus Petrillo and what he had to say opened their eyes and minds to the fact that Ali was never A. Emily stayed hidden in her bedroom for days after that, reevaluating everything that had happened since Ali came back, every word that she had said. Emily hated herself for being so dense that after all this time A could so easily play with her, but more than that she cursed herself for not being there for Ali when she needed her to be instead she was so quick to believe the worst in her.<p>

After few days of moping around she gathered courage to go see Ali, she hadn't quite planned it out what she will do or say when she will meet her but she just had to see her. When she sat opposite to Ali across a glass window, her heart cracked and shattered down into pieces because what she saw in front of her was the ghost of a person with whom she was once in love with. Alison sat there with her eyes unfocussed gazing into the distance, her once glorious blonde hair tied in a ponytail, a big gash on left side of her forehead still covered in blood, red and blue bruises around her right elbow. The ice queen of hallowed halls of Rosewood High looked deflated like somebody punctured a hole in her sense of pride, the air of self importance and mystery that she always carried around herself. She looked tired, like all the fight she had in her is lost, she looked empty and drained. In that moment Emily wanted for the earth to open up and swallow her whole, because all of this is her fault, this is what she did to the person she loved.

When she softly called out her name, Ali looked at her as if realising for the first time that she was actually sitting in front of her. Ali gave her a small smile, but it looked haunted with the deadness in her eyes. Emily wanted to cry and breakdown but in that moment she chose something else, she made a promise to herself, she made a promise that from now on and now forth she will fight all of the blonde's battles and will get her out of there as safely and as soon as possible. They did not talk at all for the rest of the visit, just looked at each other taking comfort in the silence.

When the time got over, she got up and took one look at Ali and said the three words she knew the blonde desperately wanted to hear,

"I trust you."

The last thing she saw were the tears swimming in the blonde's eyes before she let them fall down.

From then on, Emily made a point to visit Ali almost everyday, Ali hardly ever spoke anything it was like the girl lost her voice in the prison. Rosewood PD took another month to release Alison from jail, it took a team of technical experts and a court case to prove that Alison was not the girl in the video of Mona's murder.

Emily took Ali to the doctors for treatment of her scars and bruises, she was diagnosed with ligament tear in her arm because the inmates thought it would be fun to push the new girl into the pile of rocks, repeatedly. Every scar on Ali's body felt like a personal scar to Emily on her heart. She kind of selfishly wanted Alison to heal so she could heal her heart as well. The doctors advised Alison to see a psychiatrist.

Day after day, Emily drove Ali to the shrink's office with no improvement whatsoever. One fine day while driving Ali back to her home, she lost her cool because she couldn't bear to see Ali in this condition anymore.

"So how was the session?" Emily asked trying to get a response.

Silence accompanied with a slight smile.

"So, are you coming to Spencer's later tonight for the movie marathon?"

Silence accompanied with a nod.

Thats when Emily lost her patience, she stopped the car in the middle of nowhere and turned to look directly at the blonde.

"I can't do this, It hurts me physically to see you like this and I know I am responsible for all of this but I can't see you like this anymore."

She took a deep breath and reached for Ali's hand.

"Talk to me, Please. I want to hear it all. I want to hear everything that happened to you while you were on the run, while you were in prison, while you were right here protecting us, I want to hear every significant and non-significant details of your day, each day, every day. I want to understand, I want to apologise for everything that happened, I want to kill that man who did this to you." She said caressing her right arm that sits in an arm sling.

"God! Ali. I don't know if I can ever apologise enough for what I did to you, do you even know how stupid I feel everyday when I look at you, because it is all my fault. If I had just gotten out of my own head and thought of it all from your perspective it would have all made sense and none of this would have happened…"

She looked directly into Ali's eyes and continued.

"But, I guess I was afraid, afraid of what it really meant to still have feelings for you after 2 years of you being gone, of maybe finally us having a chance, but I know I ruined it all and I hate myself for it, because I chose the easiest path of pinning on you everything that went wrong in my world, of calling you a criminal while in reality I wanted to say out loud that I love you and that I still love you and probably always will and that I wanted to call you mine. But I lost you and I have lost you so many times in more than one way, I can't lose you …."

Emily broke down crying, she could not say anymore, rest of her words got stuck in her throat. Her vision was blurred by tears when she realised that Ali had pulled her into a hug, rubbing her back in circles. They stayed like this for a long time till Emily's sobs died down, Alison handed out a water bottle to her and said,

"I love you too."

Emily looked at her dumbfounded for a few moments, she wasn't sure if she heard her correctly.

"Excuse me?" Emily asked.

Ali looked at her and sighed.

"I…I am in love with you. I really am."

Emily closed her eyes and let Alison's words wash over her being, fill her completely and heal some of the scars on her heart.

She opened her eyes and did not really know what to do or say. But Alison continued.

"I don't know what it really means, I never understood it. I wanted to tell you when I returned back but things happened and I could not but I've wanted to say it for a long time now. I don't even know if I am cut out for a relationship and I have been bent and broken in 10 ways to Sunday and you really shouldn't be dealing with this right now." Ali said all the while fidgeting with her fingers.

Emily took her hands in her palms once again and said, "We will work it through."

Alison smiled and for the first time in a long while her eyes did not look dead.

* * *

><p>Emily stood up from her side of the bed and reached to where Alison sat on the floor, she sat right beside her pulling her into her arms, It was a struggle as Ali put up a fight punching Emily in the shoulder trying to get away, but Emily kept trying.<p>

"Sshh.. Its okay, Ali! It's me, you aren't dreaming anymore." She coaxed the blonde.

"Open your eyes, love and breathe… Please!"

Alison finally opened her eyes and paused for a second to look at Emily before hurling herself into her arms, ten feeble fingers clutching on to Emily's tank top, Emily held her with no intention of ever letting her go. Ali sobbed quietly in the crook of Emily's neck and Emily just kept saying words to calm her down.

She did not know how much time had passed, she didn't care. They stayed seated on the carpeted floor of their apartment, when Ali's hysteria died down Emily just sat there holding her while Ali rested her head on Emily's chest listening to her heartbeat, letting it calm her down. Emily looked through her window as the first light of the dawn coloured the beautiful city beneath them.

After Ali got released from the jail, it was already the time of their school graduation and for them to head to different directions as the girls had discussed. Ali was in no condition to even think about school and Emily was still undecided if she wants to take a gap year to let her arm heal or to go to whatever college she can get at the moment, but she didn't want to leave Alison behind. Ali's psychiatrist came as a blessing in disguise to them, when she suggested that Alison needs to leave this place, maybe even the country for a while to recover from her trauma. Thats when Emily decided that its finally time for them to take on to that trip to Paris they planned ages ago (it feels like a lifetime ago) when their hearts were a little less corrupted. So, Emily enrolled herself in Sorbonne to take some summer classes and Alison accompanied her, school was the last thing on her mind but she did enrol for some writing classes and they both rented out an apartment for summer which was a short walk away from banks of Sienne.

"Want to go for a walk?" Emily asked while handing out a glass of water to Alison.

"Yes, I guess, Let me get ready real quick." Alison replied while standing up.

"Okay."

They both changed from their pyjamas, Alison got the keys as Emily helped Ali get into a jacket. Alison turned and smiled at her, silently thanking her. Emily smoothed her blonde hair and planted a kiss on Ali's cheeks.

As they stepped out of the building into the cool air, Ali smiled looking at the summer sun. She reached out for Emily's hand and intertwined their fingers. Emily had something else in mind, she instead put her arm around Ali's shoulder bringing her close into her body, Ali smiled a little wider looking at Emily, she kissed her cheek and wrapped her arm around Emily's waist as they strolled down the street under the morning sun in the beautiful city of Paris.

They hardly spoke anything, no words were necessary. They both gave in to the comfortable impermeable silence that surrounded them. A feeble sound of piano and a woman's voice caught their attention, Emily looked around to find a woman practicing in her room, the window of which room opened in to the street.

"Dance with me?" Emily asked

"Here, on the street?" Alison looked at her as if Emily was talking crazy.

"Yeah, Why not? There is hardly anyone here at this hour." Emily said taking a hold of Ali's waist and drawing her close.

Alison followed her lead and threaded her fingers around Emily's neck as they both swayed to the soft music.

_"__Give you heart and soul to me and life will always be La vie en rose" _the woman sang.

The song ended and Emily wanted to clap in appreciation but the woman did not know that they were creeping on her personal music session, so they carried on to their path before she could look around to catch them creeping.

"You know what we haven't done yet?" Alison started

"What?"

"We haven't been Pont des Arts bridge yet."

"What's that?"

"You'll see when we get there, I checked last night that it isn't far away." Alison said pulling out her phone to check for directions.

"Okay as you say, mademoiselle." Emily said while adding a wink to it.

They followed the road by the river Sienne and reached the bridge in under 10 minutes.

"Oh! So this is what you meant." Emily said looking at the bridge, its side railings adorned with love locks.

"Yes! I read somewhere that couples come here to put a lock to this bridge and they throw the key into the river to symbolise unbreakable love." Alison stated shyly.

"Since when did Alison Dilaurentis become such a mushy cheesy person?" Emily said with feigned surprise in her expression.

"Shut up!" Ali jabbed her lightly in the stomach.

"Ouch! Okay! Okay! There is slight technical error in your plan though."

"And, what is that?" Alison asked.

"We don't have a lock & a key."

"Oh honey! If you know me, then you should know that I'll never be that hackneyed" Alison winked.

Ali bent down and took off her anklet, she removed the eiffel tower charm from it and looked at Emily.

"Ali! That is expensive" Emily said.

"Your point is?"

"Nothing" Emily said shaking her head and laughing because she knows that there is no point in arguing with the blonde if she sets her head to it.

"Come here and help me with this." Alison called out Emily.

Emily was next to her in a jiffy. They both hooked the Eiffel tower charm to the bridge and then sat down on a bench near the bridge.

"It still feels surreal to me sometimes." Ali said breaking the silence as she moved into Emily's body laying her head on her chest while she laid horizontally putting her feet on the bench.

Emily sighed and shifted to pull Ali in the circle of her arms.

"It feels surreal to me too at times."

"You know this is my favourite place in the whole world." Alison said.

"Paris. Yes I know, thats why we are here."

"I am not talking about Paris." Alison replied.

"This bridge?"

"Oh god! No. This! Here. The circle of your arms around me. This is my favourite place. Nothing beats this."

Emily's arms tightened around the blonde.

"I love you." Emily stated it as a fact.

The sincerity in Emily's words still blows away the blonde's mind.

"Kiss me!" She demanded.

Emily was just happy to oblige to her girlfriend's request. She kissed her slowly both of them still feeling the ripples of their early morning interaction just wanting to reassure each other of their undying and unwavering love they harbour for the other. But, It soon turned into a heated make out session involving clashing of tongues and teeth, Alison shifted her position of lying into Emily's arms to straddling her lap, they kissed each other breathless.

"Don't love me so much, Em". Alison said as she rested her forehead on Emily's.

"Too late!" Emily replied.

"You know that I am still broken & bent in the ugliest ways but I love you with every fibre of my being." Alison just had to say it, declare her irrevocable love for this girl in front of her.

"I know and I love every part of you, even the ones you don't want to show to the world." Emily replied back.

Ali could not bear to not kiss Emily for a second longer so she did what she had to.

* * *

><p>AN : It has been a while since I wrote anything, but 514 broke my heart for Alison and this story sort of sprang up from that. Thank you for reading. I hope you liked it, leave a review and let me know what part of it you liked, you are always welcome to PM me & talk to me. :)

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